ground floor

Cast

Skylar Astin

Actor Skylar Astin comes to TBS's Ground Floor off his breakout role in Pitch Perfect, starring alongside Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Elizabeth Banks and Brittany Snow. In the film, he played Jesse, a college freshman and member of a men's a cappella group. In addition to his role in TBS's Ground Floor, Astin plays David in the comedy movie Flock of Dudes, due out in 2014 and starring Jamie Chung, Hilary Duff and Bryan Greenberg.

Astin's recent credits also include providing the voice for Roy in Disney's animated feature, Wreck-It Ralph. He can also be seen as the lead of Relativity's college comedy 21 and Over and has completed work on the indie comedy Caveman, starring opposite Camila Belle.

Astin previously appeared as John Roberts in Taking Woodstock, playing the co-founder of Woodstock Ventures, and he starred in the indie-comedy and Sundance darling Hamlet 2.

On television, Astin has recently had guest appearances on shows such as Fox's House M.D., HBO's Girls and NBC's Love Bites.

Astin broke out in his 2006 role as George in the Tony® Award-winning musical Spring Awakening, which follows the journey of late 19th century German students as they navigate through self discovery.

A New York native, Astin currently splits his time between New York and Los Angeles.

Briga Heelan

Briga Heelan's star is certainly rising, as evidenced by how in-demand she has become in her short time in Los Angeles. Originally trained as a musical theatre actress, she is putting those chops to good use, starring (and occasionally singing) opposite Skylar Astin (Pitch Perfect) in the new TBS series Ground Floor. Heelan also has a recurring role on the upcoming NBC comedy series Undateable.

The daughter of an actress and a prominent playwright and writing teacher, Heelan was steeped in the arts as a child growing up in eastern Massachusetts. After graduating from the Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, Mass., Heelan studied for a year at the prestigious Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (CCM). She later transferred to the University of Southern California, where she graduated with a degree in theatre.

While in Los Angeles, Heelan took advantage of the many opportunities to study improv and comedy locally before auditioning for acting jobs. She quickly landed her first job, on an episode of the ABC comedy series Man Up. That led to other opportunities, including a guest-starring role on ABC's Happy Endings and recurring roles on the ABC Family series Jane By Design and TBS's Cougar Town. The latter brought Heelan to the attention of Ground Floor co-creator and executive producer Bill Lawrence, who also executive produces Undateable.

John C. McGinley

John C. McGinley's path to stardom is a story that reads like a classic Hollywood script. While an understudy in New York in the Circle-In-The-Square production of John Patrick Shanley's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, he was spotted by director Oliver Stone and was soon cast in Platoon. It was the first of a long list of collaborations between Stone and McGinley that includes Wall Street, Talk Radio, Born on the Fourth of July, Nixon and Any Given Sunday.

For the big screen, McGinley most recently received critical acclaim for his role as Brooklyn Dodgers' radio broadcaster Red Barber in Warner Bros.' 42, the story of Jackie Robinson.

McGinley received stellar reviews for his starring performance as Dave Moss in the 2013 Broadway revival of David Mamet's acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Glengarry Glen Ross. He has also wrapped production on the comedy feature Get a Job and plays a starring role in the independent comedy feature The Discoverers, with Griffin Dunne. Written and directed by Justin Schwarz, the film will soon be making the festival circuit.

McGinley is an audience favorite for his hilarious portrayal of Dr. Perry Cox in the Emmy®-nominated comedy series Scrubs, which ended its successful nine season run in 2010. He most recently returned to television with a memorable arc in USA's Burn Notice. He has also starred in Dean Koontz's Intensity; executive produced and starred opposite John Cusack in HBO's The Jack Bull; and appeared in HBO's The Pentagon Wars.

McGinley's impressive career in film spans a diverse range of characters in more than 60 films to date, including Alex Cross, Wild Hogs, Identity, The Animal, The Rock, Nothing to Lose, Set It Off, Se7en, Office Space, Mother, Wagons East, Surviving the Game, On Deadly Ground, Point Break, Highlander II, A Midnight Clear and Fat Man and Little Boy. He also starred opposite Ice Cube in Are We Done Yet?, the sequel to the hit comedy Are We There Yet?

With a solid commitment to the independent film community, he has appeared in director Eriq La Salle's Crazy as Hell; Scott Silver's Johns; Kiefer Sutherland's Truth orConsequences, N.M.; Colin Fitz, which he co-produced and which premiered in competition at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival; and D.B. Sweeney's award-wining Two Tickets to Paradise. McGinley is a partner at McGinley Entertainment Inc., an independent film production company with several projects currently in development. He first worked both sides of the camera as actor and producer for the romantic comedy Watch It! with Peter Gallagher and Lili Taylor.

On stage, McGinley was featured on Broadway in Requiem for a Heavyweight and off-Broadway in The Ballad of Soapy Smith and the original cast production of Eric Bogosian's Talk Radio, both at the renowned Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival.

In May 2005, McGinley was invited and honored to deliver the keynote address at the commencement ceremony for the University of California San Francisco's (UCSF) School of Medicine. As the father of Max, his 15-year-old son with Down syndrome, he is committed to building awareness and acceptance of people with Down syndrome. He currently serves as an Ambassador for both the Special Olympics and the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) and is a board member of the Global Down Syndrome Foundation. He previously served for seven years as the national spokesperson for NDSS's annual advocacy Buddy Walks. McGiley is also one of the original creators, in conjunction with Special Olympics, of the groundbreaking Spread the Word to End the World national campaign to eradicate the R word. He has blogged repeatedly on the Huffington Post, advocating acceptance and awareness of people with special needs as well as the importance of eliminating the R word.

McGinley resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Nichole; their daughters, Billie Grace and Kate Aleena; and son Max.

Rory Scovel

Mixing his spontaneous creativity and absurd view of the world, Rory Scovel is quickly making a name for himself. Whether discussing drugs, politics, or life in general, his infectious stage presence and engaging charisma will quickly shift the vibe of any room and place the audience in the scene of every punch line.

Scovel has been featured at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, Bridgetown Comedy Festival, Bumbershoot and Bonnaroo. His Comedy Central Half Hour premiered last May. He has also been seen on Conan, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Last summer, Scovel was featured in several episode of MTV's Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous. He was also a featured voice in HBO's animated series The Life and Times of Tim. Scovel's CD, Dilation, is currently available on iTunes.

Rene Gube

Rene Gube is a Los Angeles-based comedic writer/performer who currently pulls double duty as both a series regular and story editor on the new TBS comedy Ground Floor from Warner Horizon Television and Bill Lawrence's Doozer Productions.

Gube has had great roles on TV shows The Office, Ben and Kate, The Newsroom and Community. He also appeared in the feature film Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, in a memorable scene with Steve Carrell.

A standout comic, Gube also regularly performs long-form improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. In addition to performing on stage and in front of the camera, Gube was formerly staffed as a writer on NBC's Up All Night and TBS's Men at Work.

Alexis Knapp

A star on the rise, Alexis Knapp co-starred with fellow Ground Floor actor Skylar Astin in the movie Pitch Perfect. She first caught audiences' attention in 2012 as the female lead in Warner Bros' Project X, about a high school party that spins wildly out of control. Knapp also starred in Tom Vaughn's So Undercover, opposite Miley Cyrus and Jeremy Piven.

Knapp has two feature films due out next year, The Anomaly, opposite Ian Somerhalder, and the dark genre film Grace, written and directed by Jeff Chan. Her previous film credits include Percy Jackson & the Olympians and Couples Retreat.

Knapp currently resides in Los Angeles.

James Earl

James Earl was born and raised in Los Angeles. While attending Henry Clay Middle School, he joined an after school program called Inside-Out, where he learned improv and created plays with his fellow students. There he starred in a play called Gang Wars, which earned Earl praise and inspired him to pursue a career in acting.

Earl's first television appearance was on the Nickelodeon show Drake & Josh, playing a friend of Drake's. Shortly after, he filmed his first guest star role as Elgin Gibbs on the hit television show ER, playing alongside Mekhi Phifer. Following that role, he landed his first feature film Gridiron Gang, starring The Rock. Earl continued forward, landing recurring roles on NBC's Las Vegas and FOX's Glee. He went on to book a series regular role in the pilot Awesometown for ABC.

In addition to his role on Ground Floor, Earl has also guest-starred on shows such as CSI: Las Vegas, Crossing Jordan, Community, Cold Case, Bones, Weeds, No Ordinary Family, Pysch and Austin & Ally, among others. He recently worked on the feature film Lazarus, opposite Olivia Wilde, Mark Duplass, and Donald Glover. In between shooting, Earl spends time recording music with his group, The Future III. He also mentors at-risk youth from his childhood neighborhood.